The present invention is directed to an electronic directory system and method, and more particular, a personalized electronic directory.
The telecommunications industry is expanding rapidly as new types of communication devices are discovered and as new uses for existing communication devices are found. Cordless and cellular phones, for example, have increased the mobility of the telecommunications consumer. The number of personal communication devices such as fax machines and personal computers operating over the telephones lines has also dramatically increased. As the number and type of communication devices used by the typical consumer has increased, the number of telecommunication numbers associated with each individual user has also increased. For example, one individual may have a home phone number, a work phone number, a home fax number, a work fax number, a cellular phone number, and a pager number. As the number of telecommunication numbers associated with a given individual increase, the overall number of telecommunication numbers that must be remembered in order to communicated effectively with that individual are also increased.
In the business environment, a number of directory systems have been developed to provide access to telecommunication numbers needed by the business telecommunications consumer. For example, computer databases are often used to store the names and numbers of people. Access to the database is typically provided to a large number of people via computer networks. The computer used to access the number database may also include a telephonic device, modem and the like, or be interfaced to a telephone in order to dial the number retrieved from the database. Such a database requires substantial effort and time to maintain and update the database and requires each user to have access to a computer.
Another type of directory system often employed in a business environment is a telephone accessible directory. This type of directory is typically part of a private branch exchange (PBX) server. The server is typically used to store names and phone numbers of employees within the business organizations. A telephone is typically used by the user to look-up a desired telephone number by inputting the name of the individual using the alphanumeric correspondence on the telephone keypad. As the number of phone numbers stored on such a directory increase, the directory becomes more difficult to use as large portions of the name to look-up must be entered to get a desired number. The cumbersome nature of the directory is compounded when the typical telephone keypad (e.g. DTMF keys) is used to access the directory because multiple letters are associated with each key.